Hope everyone had a great new year’s eve and day! I spent it in a small private party with friends and I can tell you that there was no where I’d rather be!
Here’s hoping everyone a fantastic 2008! May each day of this new year be filled with joy!!!
 - J.T.
Merry Christmas, everybody!!!
Are you thirsty? Do you need more than just a little dose of ginseng and caffeine to wake you up? Do you require GRATUITOUS AMOUNTS OF ENERGY? Then you need POWERTHIRST!!!
And for those of you who can’t handle the R-Rating on the above link, here’s the clean version:
Edit: I was on youtube again and found another version that was worth sharing, so here you go, POWERTHIRST Redone:
- J.T.
I read this in the news today and got a laugh out of it. I hope you do too.
Caught short with hole in fence and playful puppy
- J.T.
I found this quiz online. Check it out, it’s fun!
Here’s what I got:
Find your own pose!
I guess it’s mostly accurate (the pose anyway), though Annete and I tend to take turns being the “Toboggan”.
Catch Ya Laterz,
- J.T.
On the 20th of November (that was a Tuesday for those of you who are wondering) I went to the WGRD Bootleg Bash with Annete, Saundy, and JaNeen. The bands playing (in order of appearance) were:
All of the bands were local… except, of course, for the headliner, which was Fuel.The concert started at 7:30, but we didn’t arrive until about 8:45. By the time we got there the first two acts had already finished playing and the third, Mustard Plug, hadn’t yet come on. We stayed to hear the rest of the bands, each of which played for about 30 or so minutes until Fuel came on. Fuel took about an hour and a half and they just kept the music coming with very little chatting in between songs.
Overall, the music was great. Mustard Plug sounded a little chaotic (which isn’t necessarily bad), but the thing that I remember most was the bass player… who seemed like a an idiot nerd who got lucky enough to live out his dream on stage. That’s the best I can describe him… he just acted stupid.
Fledfive was better. There were only 3 members of the band, so they were a lot less chaotic than Mustard Plug… and they seemed to have quite a bit more talent. In my opinion, they need to find a lead singer because their lead guitarist, who was also their lead singer, just didn’t do it for me. His playing, on the other hand, was phenomenal. He played the best electric guitar that I heard all night (yes, better than Pop Evil or Fuel). But that’s just my humble opinion.
Pop Evil was… well… they were Pop Evil. Overall, they were the best so far and they knew how to work the crowd better than any other band that came on stage. This is also when the crowd surfing started. In fact, at the end of their set the lead singer actually took a stage dive and did some crowd surfing himself.
Then there wad Fuel. There’s a reason they hit it big. They sounded great and they kept the music coming, song after song. This is where the crowd surfing really got serious. People just started rising out of the crowd one after another and floating over to the security guards who were stationed around the stage. The guards really impressed me with their ability to catch and redirect each and every surfer who reached them. Of course, not all of the surfers reached the stage. There were a great many that I watched (with a mix of amusement and distress) who fell, head first in most cases, to the floor because someone didn’t see them coming over the crowd.
All-in-all, the concert was a blast and I’m glad I got the chance to go.
Laterz,
- J.T.
Ok, so I haven’t posted in a while… but I’ve been kinda busy with work and life in general… and unfortunately I haven’t really done anything that’s been worth writing about. That is, until now!
Two days ago we were driving home from Meijer and heard that WGRD was giving away tickets to their annual Bootleg Bash at a Pizza place called Florentine. Well, that was close to the way we were taking to get home, so we decided to make a slight detour and check it out to see if maybe they had tickets left.
Let me take a second here to back up and give a little info about this concert. It’s a charity concert for which all of the tickets are free. WGRD gives away all of the tickets. They make the donation money from corporate sponsors. This year, Bud Light was the sponsor (a big thanks to BUD LIGHT!!!). They also put out an album (the annual Bootleg Album) and all of the proceeds of both the concert and album sales go to whatever charity they choose for that year. This year, they went to the Cherry Street Health Services.
Ok, now that the explanation is out of the way, I’ll continue. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any tickets left at Florentine, but they told us that the next day they’d be giving away more tickets at a clothing store called Bella Boutique, so we decided to try and get some. We showed up about 30 minutes early and went to this kewl little grocery store a couple of doors down where we bought 2 bottles of wine each (yeah, we’ve become alcholics… but not really). Anyways, we stashed the wine in the car and ran over to Bella Boutique with about 10 minutes to spare. When we went in there was already a line of about 25 people waiting for tickets (bad sign).
Anyways, we waited in line for about 15 minutes before we saw the WGRD people (two women and one guy)come in and start setting up. About 5 more minutes and the guy started trying to open a bottle of champagne. The problem was that he was opening it like they do in the movies: by pushing on the top of the cork with his thumbs. Anyone who has ever opened a bottle of champagne knows that this is bad… and the reason was re-proven when the head of the cork broke off, leaving the bottle impossible to open without equipment. Luckily I had equipment.
I had my pocket knife with me (which I had found not 2 days before) and on my pocket knife is a corkscrew. It’s not the easiest to use, but a little but of elbow grease goes a long way and I was able to save the bottle of champagne, which was quickly replaced by another bottle. The cork was tight in this bottle and the two of us took turns trying to pull it out (the right way) for about 5 minutes before he finally got it out. The third bottle, fortunately, was a bit easier.
By the time all of this had finished, the line had been moving for a while, so I slipped back in line with Annete and we worked our way to the front, where each of us were graced with 2 tickets (that’s 4 total) to the concert. After we got our tickets, I noticed the woman at the counter, I’d guess the owner of the store, was opening another bottle of wine with a real corkscrew (where was she when that guy broke the champagne cork?!!?). Unfortunately, she didn’t seem to know how to use it (yes, more fun) and she ended up pushing the cork into the bottle.
She immediately disappeared into the back and brought out yet another bottle of wine (how much alcohol does this woman keep in stock???). Being the smart woman she is, she started looking around for someone to help her with this bottle, since she had failed on the previous one and, being the sommelier of the moment, volunteered my services. It was an easy job to uncork the wine and the owner was grateful for the help.
The important thing, though, is that we got tickets. A bit later, we called JaNeen and Saundy to see if they’d be willing to take the extra 2 tickets and, of course, they were more than happy to help us out on that front.
The concert is on the 20th, so I’ll let you know how it is after that.
Until then,
- J.T.
Here’s a kewl little website that Annete showed me. It’s a test to find out which side of your brain you use more and it’s actually kind of kewl. The first time I looked at it was at home and I saw the dancer turning clockwise. I didn’t believe that anybody else saw anything differently, even when Annete told me that she could see the dancer turning left or right and that she could make it switch at will (with a little effort). I kept trying… looking away and then looking back until, all of a sudden, the dancer seemed to be turning counter-clockwise. It didn’t last long for me, though, because magically she seemed to change direction again.
In the next 20 minutes or so I figured out how to make her switch back and forth of my own will by looking away until I could see her only in the very edge of my peripheral vision and then convincing myself that she was turning in the other direction.
Anywayz, check it out. It’s actually kind of kewl:
The Right Brain vs Left Brain test
 - J.T.
Ok, so as I promised, here’s Thursday’s update. The day was pretty uneventful. I decided that since I was near the water, that I’d find a good sushi restaurant to visit. I love sushi!
I asked around and got recommended to a place in Tampa called Matoi. I also had a brainstorm from the previous day’s meal. I figured that it would be a good idea to purchase some reading material for the meal so that I wouldn’t be sitting bored and staring into space while I was there. So I mapped out a route that took me past a Borders in Clearwater and then across the bay into Tampa. I got to the Borders fine and picked up a could of books and headed on my way to food with high expectations of a fantastic meal of raw fish.
I got across the bay without any problems, but the exit that I was supposed to take was slightly confusing and I ended up taking the wrong one… this wouldn’t normally be a problem, except that there were no exits until I got my butt all the way back across the bay… where I turned around for my 3rd trip over the water. I guess that the plus side of this is that the gas was on the company and the night was nice… the stars and city lights across the bay were actually quite nice… so I wasn’t too mad… just hungry.
Anywayz, I made it to the restaurant (to find that there was a Borders across the street… bad planning I guess) and went inside. The interior was kind of dark and had a low ceiling, though I could tell that it stretched out for quite a ways… or at least the decor made it look that way. The furniture was all wood and kind of run down… looking kind of like you were in a little shack near a beach. In the middle of the long seating area there were 2 fish tanks (probably about 100 gallons each) with saltwater fish, the most recognizable being a lion fish. I was seated at a booth near the front of the restaurant and left with a menu.
I quickly decided what I was going to eat. I wanted an assortment of sushi, but I also wanted to make sure that I got a couple of my favorites, so I ordered their sushi meal as well as an order of Unagi (freshwater eel) and Toro (fatty tuna) ala carte. I also got an order of edamame to start myself off. Now, there was no way that I was going to finish all of that food… but nobody said I couldn’t have it for breakfast the next day 
.
After I had decided what I wanted I pulled out the book that I decided to read - it was a collection of Ghost Stories (since Halloween is just on the horizon) - and started reading. It wasn’t long before my waitress came to take my order and then left to put it in to the kitchen. The service was actually really good and I never got more than a page further in my book before someone else came to bring me something or check on me. Once I got my food, though, I had a bit more time to myself… and I was glad for it. The sushi was fantastic. It was some of the best stuff I’ve ever had, only surpassed by some thick cuts that I got in a sushi restaurant without power (they were trying to use it up so that it wouldn’t go bad). And the Unagi was the best that I’ve had anywhere else. I think the overall message here is that it was GOOD!!!
Anywayz, I ate my meal and enjoyed my book for a while. I finished about half of the food and had the rest boxed up to go… and that’s about it. So if you’re ever in Tampa and in the mood for good sushi, check the place out. I promise that you won’t be disappointed.
- J.T.
Well, I’ve been in Clearwater, FL since Wednesday on a business trip and today is the day that I fly home. It was definitely not long enough to see everything that I’d like to see (I didn’t even go to the beach), but it was, none-the-less, a great trip.
The best thing about business trips, of course, is that the company pays for everything you eat… which means that you can go out and have some really good food without worrying about the bill… and I did enjoy some good food. Wednesday I drove down from Clearwater to St. Petersburg and ate at Billy’s Stonecrab. It’s a requirement, I’m told, since Stone Crab Season just started on October 15th. I got a seat almost immediately and ordered my dinner, a crab and shrimp combo plate that included 3 Stone Crab claws and about a dozen wild shrimp. My only complaint is that I ordered them hot, but they came to my table cold. I decided not to send them back because my waitress seemed a little out of it and I wasn’t sure what I was going to get back if I gave her another chance. Otherwise, the food was delicious. The wild shrimp tasted less sweet than any other shrimp I’ve ever had and the stone crab was extremely juicy.
Earlier on Wednesday I had made a phone call to a local Salsa studio and asked for recommendations of clubs to attend in the area. They told me about a club called Mirage that has a Salsa night on Wednesdays (and Fridays) and so, after eating, I made the drive into Tampa and found it. I got there at 9:00 (extremely early) and there was hardly anyone there at all, so I sat at the bar and watched some old boxing matches that were being projected onto one of the walls. This kept me entertained most of the time I was there. At around 10:00 enough other people had filtered in that I decided to take a walk around the bar and ask if anyone wanted to dance… unfortunately I was unanimously turned down, so I took my seat and watched some more boxing.
It’s the unfortunate truth, but I’ve witnessed this ‘cliquey’ behavior in so many other clubs that I’m no longer surprised. It seems that these people will only dance with other dancers that they know, rather than taking a chance and dancing with someone who may or may not be able to keep time. When I finally got someone to dance with, it was someone who didn’t know anything, so I started from scratch and taught her the basic. She picked it up ok enough, so I tried to teach her how to do a basic right turn.
I will take a moment here to talk a little bit more about how I present myself at a dancing event. If I know people, I will tend to dance with the people that I know, just because they are my friends, but I always try to make it a point to dance with someone that I don’t know and I don’t really care what this person looks like. I will ask anyone to dance because 1) I’m just there to dance and have a good time and 2) I believe that you improve faster when you dance with a variety of people with a variety of skill levels and a variety of body types. That’s the first thing I wanted to say. The second is to describe the dress of the woman I was currently instructing. She wore a single piece, black dress that was practically a tube top, except that a thin string extended from the center of her clevage, up, and around her neck to hold the dress in place.
Now that I’ve made these two points clear, I’ll continue. When she started getting the hang of the right turn she began trying to do it faster… to the beat of the song. This is fine because that’s kind of the point in dancing. Unfortunately, she got a little bouncy shen she did this and on her 3rd or 4th attempt, she fell out of her dress. I wasn’t particularly interested, since, like I’ve previously, I will ask anyone to dance and this particular woman was not someone that I was attracted to. The funny thing was that she just fixed herself without any seeming embarrassment and went right back to it… until she fell out a second time. At this point I waited for her to fix herself again and thanked her for the dance.
I danced with another woman about a half hour later who I had seen dancing on the floor. She seemed to be a good dancer, but when I got her on the floor myself she couldn’t seem to keep time and she kept walking around me for no apparent reason. My guess is that this was because of the style of salsa that she was used do, but it confused the hell out me me and I was glad when the song ended.
It was probably another 15 or 20 minutes before I danced again. By now two of the 3 floors were practically packed. I asked a woman who was leaning against the wall between to of the floors and she seemed happy to join me on the dance floor. We danced through about 4 or 5 songs (I didn’t mention that the DJ was fantastic and was able to string songs together like magic) and she was actually an ok dancer. She could follow most of the stuff after a couple attempts and, even though she ended up off time several times, a quick turn or cross-body lead would reset her well enough. The worst part about this new partner of mine was that her steps tended to be very big and, in addition, she had a hard time keeping her balance. There were a number of instances where I had to physically catch her in order to prevent her from falling back into another couple and quickly redirect her movements in the other direction. All-in-all, she was the best partner I had that night despite her flaws and, as soon as I was done dancing with her, I finished my Red Bull and left so that I could end the night on that positive note.
Anyways, that’s it for now. I’ll tell you about what happened on Thursday the next time I post, so until then…
Peace and Chicken,
- J.T.